OCTOBER 5, 2022 – A whole bunch of multinational service members from throughout the NATO-led Kosovo Pressure participated in a posh disaster response train on the Camp Novo Selo coaching web site in Kosovo, Sept. 27, 2022.
Named “Golden Sabre,” the KFOR Regional Command-East hosted train centered on the mixing of various property and capabilities of KFOR, testing the flexibility of the varied contingents contributed by NATO allies and companions.
“Our main mission right here is to offer a protected and safe surroundings and keep freedom of motion all through Kosovo,” mentioned Lt. Col. Jason Mendez, commander of the RC-East kinetic battalion. Golden Sabre “was a possibility for us to return collectively and train interoperability amongst all Kosovo Forces (KFOR).”
The massive-scale coaching train centered on crowd and riot management ways and procedures.
“This allowed for us to follow based mostly on completely different situations that we would encounter, and the way we’d combine with one another to revive a protected and safe surroundings or freedom of motion,” Mendez mentioned.
KFOR conducts the Golden Sabre train bi-annually to make sure that items and their Troopers keep a excessive degree of operational readiness always.
“Primarily based on the various changeover timelines of every contingent, it’s vital to do that each six months to make sure that everybody will get to take part within the train,” mentioned Lt. Col. Eddie Simpson, the deputy commanding officer of RC-East. “Golden Sabre offers Troopers and their management with the chance to train their craft and execute their native firm coaching and CRC practices, in addition to enabling the brigade and battalion employees to get out and work collectively to see a few of the areas that want enchancment.”
Simpson mentioned that complicated workouts, like Golden Sabre, are a possibility for parts to showcase interoperability proficiency.
“It provides the KFOR commander a number of flexibility on which parts to make use of and when to make use of them,” he defined.
With RC-East because the headquarters for the operation, the Turkish contingent from its kinetic battalion participated within the train together with a platoon of Italian Carabinieri, a navy police pressure from KFOR’s Multinational Specialised Unit, Hungarian parts from the KFOR Tactical Reserve Battalion and members from the European Union Rule of Legislation Mission in Kosovo. Parts from the Albanian, Austrian, Latvian and Polish Armed Forces additionally supported the train.
Mendez mentioned that the planning portion of the train was simply as vital because the execution part.
“As we plan and put together for these (forms of) operations, it’s vital for us to know a few of the constraints that we run into when planning and the way we put together to achieve success throughout the execution part,” Mendez mentioned.
Each Mendez and Simpson expressed that the collaborating service members efficiently met the aims of the train.
“It was a giant win for us,” Mendez mentioned. “We don’t all the time see a few of the challenges till we get by the train, so it was a giant win for us to determine areas that we are able to enhance on and proceed to construct confidence in our skills as KFOR.”
By Sgt. Marla Ogden
138th Public Affairs Detachment
